philippagregoryfandomcom-20200214-history
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
The Other Boleyn Girl is a 2008 historical romantic drama film directed by Justin Chadwick. The screenplay by Peter Morgan was adapted from Philippa Gregory’s 2001 novel of the same name. It is a fictionalized account of the lives of 16th-century aristocrats Mary Boleyn, one-time mistress of King Henry VIII, and her sister, Anne, who became the monarch's ill-fated second wife, though much history is distorted. Production studio BBC Films also owns the rights to adapt the sequel novel, The Boleyn Inheritance, which tells the story of Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Jane Parker. Plot King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon is troubled as she has not produced a living male heir to the throne, having only one surviving child, Mary. Mary Boleyn marries William Carey. After the festivities, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk and his brother-in-law Thomas Boleyn plan to install Boleyn's eldest daughter, Anne Boleyn, as the king's mistress, with the hope that Anne will bear him a son and that she'll be able to improve her family's wealth and status. Anne's mother, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, is disgusted by the plot, but Anne eventually agrees as a way to please her father and uncle. While visiting the Boleyn estate, Henry is injured in a hunting accident that was indirectly caused by Anne. Urged by her scheming uncle, Mary nurses Henry. Henry becomes smitten with Mary and invites her to court, to which Mary and her husband reluctantly agree, aware that the king has invited her because he desires her. Mary and Anne become ladies-in-waiting to Queen Catherine and Henry sends William Carey abroad on an assignment. Separated from her husband, Mary begins an affair with the king and finds herself falling in love with him. Anne secretly marries the nobleman Henry Percy, although he is already betrothed to Lady Mary Talbot. Anne confides in her brother, George Boleyn, about the marriage. Overjoyed, George proceeds to tell Mary. Fearing Anne will ruin the Boleyn family by marrying such a prominent earl without the king's consent, Mary alerts her father and uncle. They confront Anne, forcibly annul the marriage, and exile her to France. Mary eventually becomes pregnant with Henry's child. Her family receives new grants and estates, their debts are paid, and Henry arranges George's marriage to Jane Parker. When Mary nearly suffers a miscarriage, she is confined to bed until her child is born. Norfolk recalls Anne to England and is tasked to keep Henry's attention from wandering to another rival while Mary is confined. Believing that Mary had her exiled to increase her own status, Anne gets back at her by successfully winning Henry over. When Mary gives birth to a son, Henry Carey, Thomas and Norfolk are overjoyed, but the celebration is short lived as Anne tells Henry that the baby is born a bastard and that, for her to accept his advances, he must stop talking to Mary. This infuriates Norfolk, as the king refuses to acknowledge the child as his heir. Henry then has Mary sent to the countryside at Anne's request. Shortly after, Mary is widowed. Anne encourages Henry to break from the Catholic Church when the Pope refuses to annul his marriage to Queen Catherine. Henry succumbs to Anne's demands, declares himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, and gets Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to annul the marriage. Having fulfilled Anne's requests, Henry comes to Anne's room but she refuses to have sex with him until they are married. In a fit of rage, he rapes her. A pregnant Anne marries Henry to please her family and becomes Queen of England. As a wife, Henry slowly starts despising her, and, as a queen, she is hated by the public, being deemed a witch. Despite the birth of a healthy daughter, Elizabeth, Henry blames Anne for not producing a son and begins courting Jane Seymour in secret. After Anne suffers the miscarriage of a son, she begs George to have sex with her to replace the child she lost, for fear of being passed over by Henry and burned as a witch. George at first reluctantly agrees, realizing that it is Anne's only hope, but they do not go through with it. However, George's neglected wife Jane, under orders from Norfolk to spy on Anne, witnesses enough of their encounter to become suspicious. She reports what she has seen, and both Anne and George are arrested. The two are found guilty and sentenced to death for treason, adultery, and incest. Distraught by the news of the execution of George, his mother disowns her husband and brother, vowing never to forgive them for what their greed has done to her children. After Mary learns that she was late for George's execution, she returns to court to plead for Anne's life. Believing that Henry will spare her sister, she leaves to see Anne right before the scheduled execution. Anne asks Mary to take care of her daughter Elizabeth if anything should happen to her. Mary watches from the crowd as Anne makes her final speech, waiting for the execution to be cancelled as Henry promised. A letter from Henry is given to Mary, warning her not to come to his court any more, and implicitly revealing his decision to execute Anne after all. Ten days after Anne's execution, Henry and Jane Seymour are married. Norfolk is imprisoned and the next three generations of his family are executed for treason in their turn. Mary marries William Stafford and they have two children, Anne and Edward. Mary takes an active role in raising Anne's daughter Elizabeth, who grows up to become the future Queen of England, and reigns for 44 years. Cast * Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn. Portman was attracted to the role because it was a character that she "hadn’t played before", and describes Anne as "strong, yet she can be vulnerable and she's ambitious and calculating and will step on people but also feels remorse for it". One month before filming began, Portman started taking daily classes to master the English accent under dialect coach Jill McCulloch, who also stayed on set throughout the filming. This was her second film to use her English accent after V for Vendetta. * Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn. Johansson expressed concern over the film being "such a melodramatic tale". In response to critics being sceptical about the film featuring American actresses as major British characters, Johansson said, "The three foreign actors will be using English accents. I'll take away the eyebrows and the make-up and you won't notice I'm American". * Eric Bana as Henry VIII, King of England. Bana commented that he was surprised upon being offered the role, and describes the character of Henry as "a man who was somewhat juvenile and driven by passion and greed", and that he interpreted the character as "this man who was involved in an incredibly intricate, complicated situation, largely through his own doing". In preparation for the role, Bana relied mostly on the script to come up with his own version of the character, and he "deliberately stayed away" from other portrayals of Henry in films because he found it "too confusing and restricting". * Jim Sturgess as George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford. Though the three siblings are all very tight-knit, George and Anne are closest. George supports and loves Anne for her rebellious and unconventional attitude. He is forced to marry Jane Parker. George is often viewed as the most vulnerable and probably the kindest of the siblings. * Kristin Scott Thomas as Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire and Ormond * Mark Rylance as Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond * David Morrissey as Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk * Benedict Cumberbatch as William Carey * Oliver Coleman as Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland * Ana Torrent as Catherine of Aragon * Eddie Redmayne as William Stafford * Juno Temple as Jane Parker * Iain Mitchell as Thomas Cromwell * Andrew Garfield as Francis Weston * Corinne Galloway as Jane Seymour * Constance Stride as young Mary Tudor * Maisie Smith as young Elizabeth Tudor * Alfie Allen as the King's Messenger Gallery Tumblr mdnex9hoVO1qmqk1bo1 500.jpg Wikiviii.png Category:Films